I feel our before the baby arrives to-do list is getting longer and longer.  I think it just hit me today how much we still have left to do before Elliana arrives, and we really don’t have that much time left to do it. 

Sure November 26th seems like a good while away, but then I remember that it’s really not.  Plus we have no guarantee that this little girlie won’t decide to pop into this world early or decide to chill out on the inside for a bit longer.  If she’s anything like me I showed up 3 weeks early.  My mom always said I couldn’t stand not knowing what was going on out there, so I had to come out and see.  Who knows?  She may decide to show up right on time so she can be a Turkey Day baby.

As far as preparing the nursery goes we’re almost finished with that.  We’re down to a few minor things left to do because honestly there’s not a whole lot we can do anyway.  We’re stuck with ugly wooden paneling on the walls (just like almost every other room in the house), so we don’t have to paint. 

I’d do anything if I could convince my Grandparent’s to let us rip the paneling down, but my Grandma absolutely refuses. I’d even offer to pay their motorhome insurance for a couple months if I could get rid of the nasty brown stuff, but she likes the paneling *shudder*. She’s one of those little old ladies who thinks it’s “classic” and in perfectly good condition.  I say there’s drywall behind all the ugly paneling that is screaming to find it’s way to the daylight again, but as long as my Grandma is making the rules that’ll never happen.  That’s one of those things you just have to deal with when your Grandma is your landlord, and you don’t pay rent.

Anywho, the only other thing we have to do in the nursery is put down a rug.  The floors are ugly linoleum, and right now the easy fix is to throw a rug down.  I’ve even got a nice room size rug that will fit perfectly, but I’ve got to drag it out and clean it up as it’s been in storage for a few months.  Later on when we have the time we’re going to install hardwood floors.  We already have the flooring…getting Hubby to install it is the issue.  We all know what he could have been doing while he was laid off for 3 months, but we call see the flooring is still stacked up in my utility room!

The list for the rest of the house isn’t so pretty.  There are other rooms that need painted, floors that need repaired, door knobs needing replaced, and the list goes on and on.  After all the repairs are finished we have to finally settle on what we’re going to do about the heating situation since the nursery and bathroom are both on the side of the house that is wood heat only, and I don’t want to chance using the wood stove with a newborn.  At least she’ll spend a majority of this winter in her bassinet in our bedroom where she’ll be warm and toasty.  Then we’ve got to baby proof everything!  I totally feel overwhelmed and like we’ll never be ready for her in time.